When Fulton Schools Professor Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown (pictured) and her research team discovered that certain microbes are consistently absent from children with autism, they emptied the guts of several autistic infants and inoculated them with fecal enemas taken from healthy children. They found the resulting diversity of microbes in the guts of the children with autism increased during a 10-week period of treatment, leading to positive effects that remained in some of the children for two years after the treatment — their gastrointestinal symptoms subsided and their behavior improved as well. Krajmalnik-Brown gave a session about the research at the recent annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science, which was conducted virtually and hosted by ASU. It was one of several sessions on research focusing on the link between microbial ecosystems and various illnesses and other health disorders. (Subscribing or creating an account to access The Economist is necessary to view the full article.)

See Also: AAAS lecture: microbes and autism, ASU Biodesign Institute, February 7